ABSTRACT
With the ideological shift toward neo-Leninism and liberal socialism, Soviet filmmakers strove to debunk the old official ideology. Instead, they presented a realistic picture of Soviet life. In the beginning they concentrated their attention on two groups: bureaucrats and youth. As has been demonstrated, liberal moviemakers viewed Soviet bureaucrats as their enemies and used any opportunity to expose the masters of Soviet society. Bureaucrats were also depicted as spreading anti-Semitic feelings. Soviet youth were the second target of Soviet movies in the first years of glasnost. In order to understand why liberal cinematographers felt this audience to be so important, it is necessary to recall how youth were treated in Stalin’s time. There are dozens of movies that portray the alienation of youth from Soviet society. Most movies made between 1987 and 1992 depict Russian teenagers as devoid of social values, indifferent to the interests of society, and absorbed only with their material well-being and pleasures.
